MHProNews received this message in response to a recent message sent to Williams Wade “Bill” Matchneer III, J.D.
“Dear Tony, I’m so very sad to have to tell you that Bill passed away last Saturday afternoon. Below is his obituary posted on the funeral home’s website.
The cause of death was bone marrow and multi-organ failure due to multiple myeloma. His blood counts never did recover from his last chemo.
I would appreciate your sending to Bill’s friends in the manufactured housing community.
Thank you.
Laurie Matchneer”
Laurie also thoughtfully provided the following linked information.
William Wade Matchneer III
January 08, 1949 – December 18, 2021
Obituary For William Wade Matchneer III
He worked uninterrupted for the Occupational Health and Safety Review Commission in Washington, DC through two stem cell transplants. He then continued working for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development heading up their Manufactured Housing Program. He was responsible for manufactured home construction and safety standards, installation standards and a home dispute resolution program. He retired to Pittsburgh from the Federal Reserve Bank in 2014 and joined the law firm of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as Senior Counsel on their Financial Services Litigation and Compliance Team.
Bill spent his youth in Columbus, Ohio where he attended Columbus Academy making many life-long friends. He then followed his father and grandfather in attending Mercersburg Academy, a college preparatory school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He was very happy to see his Mercersburg classmates at their 50th Class Reunion in 2017. After college prep, Bill followed the beat of his own drum attending radio announcers school in Manhattan. He then attended Ohio State University where he hosted the overnight progressive rock broadcast as a disc jockey at WCOL. His first night on the radio local authorities asked him to try to use his influence to calm the campus. The Ohio State-Michigan game had been played that afternoon and the tradition was to trash the campus, no matter who won the game!
His WCOL radio days also allowed him to spend time with some Rock’n’Roll greats. He told of getting a call from a local promoter offering an interview with The Grateful Dead. When he arrived, Jerry Garcia just looked at him and said something to the effect, “Hey man, we haven’t done any interviews in years.” One of the major rock impresarios of the time, Sam Cutler, apologized to Bill for the mix-up and invited him to watch the show from the orchestra pit. Bill said seeing the show from there made up for the lost interview.
Bill was an enthusiastic life-long Ohio State Buckeyes fan and was looking forward to this year’s bowl game. He faithfully followed Formula One Racing and was happy to see Max Verstappen recently win the F1 Championship. He enjoyed fly-fishing and was able to do more during his retirement at the family’s summer home in Brookville, Pennsylvania. After his radio days, Bill continued as an avid audiophile and had a collection of more than 2,000 first pressing vinyl albums dating back to the early 1960’s.
Bill loved motorsports. He was an amateur racecar driver who won Formula Vee championships as a member of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). In 1989, Bill won the North Atlantic, New England & New York Region Formula Vee Championship while he was sponsored by his friends at DeMott Auto in Stamford, Connecticut. While he raced across three regions, his happy place was with his racing friends at Limerock Park in Connecticut. Bill’s pride and joy was the 1994 Jaguar XJS convertible he had inherited from his Dad. He entered the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix in 2014 at Schenley Park and was pleasantly surprised to win Best Jaguar in Class. He was also very proud of the 1969 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle he had personally restored to mint condition. Always unassuming, Bill found amusement in having a vanity license plate that said Joe Blow.
Bill earned his J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law and held a BA (summa cum laude) from Pace University.
Bill is survived by his wife of 37 years, Laurie Matchneer, his step-son Brian (Lisa) Pieczko Jr., his sister Nell (Doug) Schiavi, his brother Rick (Angela) Matchneer, his stepsister Catherine (Wayne) Bardsley and his in-laws David (Joan) Bardsley. He is missed by his niece Adrienne (Geoff) Abel, nephews Alex Schiavi, Ed (Jenny) Bardsley, Chris Matchneer, Seb Matchneer, Patrick Bardsley and his grandniece Brooke Bardsley. He was preceded in death by his parents, Eleanor Matchneer and William Wade Matchneer, Jr. and his stepmother, Sally Matchneer and his nephew Jeff Bardsley.
Family and friends will gather in the springtime in Brookville, Pennsylvania at the summer home Bill’s grandfather built in 1916. Further information will be provided at a later time. Arrangements handled by the John F. Slater Funeral Home, Inc., 412-881-4100, 4201 Brownsville Road, Brentwood 15227. … ##
The above was posted on the funeral home and other websites such as EchoVita on 12.18.2021.
From the HUD website archives was the following notice of Matchneer’s appointment to head up their Office of Manufactured Housing Programs (OMHP). It was dated: Friday May 3, 2002.
William Matchneer Named HUD’s Administrator of the Manufactured Housing Program
Matchneer comes to HUD from the Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, where he served as Staff Counsel to Congressman Mark Souder.
“I am excited that Bill has agreed to join our team,” said Martinez. “I am confident that as the first Administrator of the Manufactured Housing Program he will be a great addition to the Department.”
“Our loss is manufactured housing’s gain,” said Souder. “Bill is a superb lawyer with extensive experience in issues that are critical to the manufactured housing industry. I am happy for Bill and know he will do a great job at HUD.”
HUD is the nation’s housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, especially among minorities, creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans, supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development as well as enforces the nation’s fair housing laws. ##
MHProNews and MHLivingNews have previously published video and written interviews linked here and below. For whatever reason, the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) failed to mention this loss, though Matchneer was a member through the Bradley law firm. Perhaps they will make up for that omission in the near term?
Federal Service and Industry Politics
While it is possible to ignore federal and industry politics, the case can be made that ignoring it does no one any justice. Matchneer was a periodic source for on and off the record insights to this writer and MHProNews.
Some of the reports that mention Matchneer by name are linked below.
William Matchneer leaves CFPB for Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
Bill Matchneer, Dick Jennison and Ron Thomas Sr. to address Louisville Show attendees
On a personal and professional level, Bill will be deeply missed. MHProNews did not want to share a headline about Bill’s passage with any other topic, which is part of the reason for waiting until today to publish this remembrance.
Our sincere condolences to Laurie Matchneer, his family, and all of those who are touched by Bill’s loss. ##
MHProNews Notice: as a brief review of some of the more recent losses to the industry, shown via the obituaries further below, these are a reminder that death comes to us all, sometimes with little notice. MHProNews is exploring creating a file for those who would like to take a personal role in crafting their own memorials.
Interested? Send us a message and we’ll suggest a Q&A format that you could complete that will help tell your story when the time comes.
Our thanks to you, our sources, and sponsors for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.
